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We Rolled Out Some Exciting Things for Booker in 2019

By Sunil Rajasekar

2019 was a busy and big year for us at Booker.  I am excited to share an update on the recent changes we’ve made to the platform to help you run your business more efficiently so you can get back to doing what you love most—connecting with your customers.    

If you attended our BOLD Conference in 2019, then you may remember the opening to my presentation about extreme consumer expectations. Consumer loyalty is very difficult in today’s world. Consumers are used to convenience, efficiency, instant gratification and they hold the power to switch services at the drop of hat.    

Technology gives us the ability to meet these rising expectations and is changing the way you attract, connect with, and market to your clients. We’re working hard to continue to enhance our product to help you keep up with consumer expectations and grow your business.    

In 2019 we focused our product innovations on two main areas: 

  • We’re building enhancements within our platform to help you seamlessly run your business, make every customer experience exceptional, and attract and retain new customers.  
  • We aim to make your business as efficient as possible so you can spend more time creating superior customer experiences, and less time managing processes.  

Here are some of the latest innovations we've developed to do just that. 

Mindbody Marketplace—make it easy for your clients to find you 

We’re excited to announce that the Mindbody Marketplace is now open for businesses that have Booker software. Now, your business will be more visible than ever before to current and potential clients.   

This is a simple and effective way to get exposure and bookings with millions of clients actively looking to book appointments for services that businesses like yours provide.  

By opting in now, you can be one of the first businesses to list your services in the new beauty and wellness categories on mindbody.io and start getting bookings instantly. Maybe you’re wondering what type of customers use the Mindbody app...  

The app has two million active monthly users globally in the Mindbody marketplace who book over six million classes and appointments per month—that’s almost nine thousand bookings per hour. On top of that, the average user of this app spends $245 per month on wellness, fitness, and beauty compared to the average American who only spend $75

And we expect those numbers to grow since we have invested heavily in national advertising. We began our national advertising campaign consisting of bus wrap-around ads and streaming video and audio ads to help bring more awareness to your business and the app—and we’ve seen a lot of success with it. We are going to be ramping that up to another level to scale this out to even more cities—so don’t be surprised if you see some of our ads popping up in your city soon. 

Marketing Suite—attract and retain clients 

You work hard to attract new clients and provide them an exceptional customer experience, but one of the biggest challenges is retaining those clients.  

With Marketing Suite, you can set up automated marketing campaigns to stay connected with every customer who walks through your door.  

When a client hasn’t been to your business for a certain amount of time, you can set up an automated text campaign to send them a personalized message to win them back and turn them into a loyal client. This is an effective tool because most clients are more accessible via text because it is their preferred method of communication.  

And it’s easy to know if these types of campaigns are working for your business by viewing the dashboard within Marketing Suite. The dashboard provides insights into the performance of your marketing campaigns and calculates the amount of revenue you’ve accrued.  

Bowtie—our new AI receptionist so you never miss a call 

We recently rolled out Messenger[ai] to our Booker customers to help you never miss a booking at your business. Bowtie is an AI (artificial intelligence) receptionist that helps convert missed calls at your business into paying customers.  

Even today, many customers prefer to book appointments by phone. If you’re busy with clients, however, it can be nearly impossible to answer every phone call without sacrificing the in-house customer experience. If you don’t answer the phone, though, it’s unlikely the customer will leave a message or call again. 

With Messenger[ai], when a call goes unanswered, it automatically texts the customer to help them set up and confirm an appointment at your business. In fact, in one month, Takamichi Hair Salon in New York earned $8,815 in revenue through Bowtie alone.

Group Bookings—let clients book group appointments online 

With group booking now available in your mobile responsive online booking page, groups of up to five people can easily book the same service, at the same time—making the process convenient for both you and your clients. This new feature will help you accommodate group bookings during some of the most profitable seasons and holidays for beauty businesses like bridal season and Mother’s Day.  

Client forms—save time with paperless forms 

Saving time during the check-in process is a game-changer for both you and your clients. With our recent addition of paperless client forms, you can get all the client information you need before their appointment takes place. We know that one of the most important aspects of your business is enabling you to provide the most exceptional customer experience whenever a client is in your space, with this new feature your clients will enjoy a relaxed atmosphere from start to finish.  

2019 was a big year and 2020 is shaping up to be even bigger. Our team is growing rapidly and in addition to our nine Research & Development locations around the US, we just opened up our first international development center in Pune, India.  These additional investments will help us not only improve our core platform functionality, usability, and performance but also in cutting edge functionality like artificial intelligence and machine learning. We cannot wait to unveil what we have in store for 2020! Thank you for the opportunity to partner with you as we strive to connect the world to wellness. 

 

About the author:

Sunil Rajasekar headshot

Sunil Rajasekar

Former President & Chief Technology Officer

Mindbody

With more than 20 years of consumer and enterprise experience, Sunil's work as Mindbody’s chief technology officer and president focused on the company’s product and technology strategy, consumer marketplace expansion, and platform development. Previously, Sunil served as vice president and general manager at e-commerce giant eBay, leading engineering and product management for the seller experience. He has also served as chief technology officer for Lithium Technologies and as vice president of engineering, product management and operations at Intuit. He holds an MBA from the University of Toledo.

 

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